Research projects target reduction in carbon emissions transforming an existing combustion engine into an electric hybrid is expensive and problematic. Air (pneumatic) hybrid engines are cheaper to run and deliver significantly fewer carbon emissions. Compressed gases produced by engine pistons while the car is slowing down are driven into a tank and used later to power the pistons and to provide compressed air for turbo charging during periods of turbo lag. Brunel’s simple, cost-effective solution avoids the costly exhaust valve adaption which engineers have been struggling to overcome for ten years. Groundbreaking simulation results from the Advanced Powertrain and Fuels Research Group, led by Professor Hua Zhao (pictured above), suggest that a normal combustion engine can be adapted into a new air hybrid engine at very low cost. Electric hybrid vehicles save fuel using energy management measures such as switching off the engine when not in use and recovering braking energy, but
In December, the potential impact of this breakthrough was recognised when Brunel was named one of six winners of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership’s Technology Challenge. The winners had the chance to pitch their ideas directly to senior representatives from a number of major companies within the automotive industry, including Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Ford, Shell International and McLaren Automotive.
Brunel’s X-Team competed in the inaugural “Zero Carbon, Clean Emission Grand Prix” on the Isle of Man in 2009.
Professor Celia Brackenridge, Director of Brunel’s Centre for Youth Sport and Athlete Welfare, has been awarded an honorary doctorate in science by the University of Bedfordshire, in recognition of her long term commitment to the study of sexual abuse and child protection in sport. Celia began her career at the former Bedford College of Physical Education. The honorary degree represents her third major honour in as many years. Christina Gipson, a doctoral student in the Centre for Youth Sport and Athlete Welfare, received the prestigious Nell C Jackson Memorial Award from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. The award, made to elite African American women in sport, recognises Christina’s success coaching young women in soccer, with the aim of developing them both as athletes and as citizens. Professor Ray Hackney of Brunel Business School was elected to serve on the European Doctoral Programmes Association in Management and Business Administration (EDAMBA) Executive Board. EDAMBA promotes the improvement of PhD programmes by encouraging the exchange of information and expertise. Daniel Phillips, a Brunel Sport Sciences graduate, was doubly successful in 2009 when his research into exercise performance in an oxygen-deprived state, funded by a Physiological Society Vacations Studentship Award, also jointly won an Oxford University Physiological Society conference prize. Daniel is seeking funding in order to continue his studies.
The group, comprising four finalyear Mechanical Engineering MEng students supported by academic staff and a professional rider and mechanic, planned, managed, designed and built an electric-powered racing bike, investigating and implementing “green” technology in conjunction with existing race-bike systems to produce a competitive machine.
Brunel’s online research archive reaches millionth download The Archive preserves and disseminates articles, data sets, working papers, conference papers, pre-prints and PhD theses produced by staff and research students across the University. These are accessible on the web to a worldwide audience, 24 hours a day. In June, the Brunel University Research Archive (BURA) recorded its millionth download since its launch in December 2006, demonstrating the quality and depth of research excellence at Brunel.
Individual awards and appointments
On average, BURA records 4,000 individual downloads per day. At the time of writing, it has attracted a total of 1.6 million downloads, and is ranked 12th in the UK research repository rankings.
Dr Christine Riefa, lecturer in the Brunel Law School, received a Fulbright Commission EU Scholar-in-Residence award to strengthen US expertise in EU affairs. Dr Riefa will spend five months at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Ohio, teaching European Consumer Law and researching the protection of consumers in virtual environments such as Second Life. Dr Bryan Taylor, research associate in the Centre for Sports Medicine and Human Performance, was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Commission Distinguished Scholar Award in May 2009, giving him the opportunity to pursue a 10-month postdoctoral research project based at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota into the role of the respiratory system in limiting exercise tolerance amongst heart-failure patients.
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